









<*-♦♦ .<«^ \.</ :&L\ %^ ■ 

O, 



' " *' 















'Co 9- 



** A 












J. **. 









♦ ,o- 




^ oT o " o *2* 

*P /*U o ^ * O 

4 o 





SERMON, 



PREACHED AT THE 



STATE PRISON, 



IN 



MASSACHUSETTS, 



November 29th, 1812; 



BY CHARLES LOWELL, 

Minister of the West Church in Boston. 



BOSTON, 

PRINTED BY JOSHUA BELCHER. 

1812. 



This Sermon was necessarily composed in much 
haste. In committing it to the press, the author has 
yielded to the wishes of friends, whose judgment he 
respects, and who thought the publication of it might 
be useful. The intelligent reader, recollecting the 
occasion and circumstances, will not be surprised 
at its plainness and simplicity. 






SERMON. 

Romans, ii. 4. 
The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. 

In addressing an audience like the 
one which is now before me, it may, at first 
view, appear extraordinary that, of all the at- 
tributes of God, I should select his goodness 
for the theme of my discourse. Deprived 
of that liberty, which is usually considered as 
the most precious birthright of man; prohib- 
ited, in a great measure, that social inter- 
course, to which the instincts of our nature 
forcibly impel us ; and destitute of those do- 
mestic enjoyments which, next to religion, 
give the sweetest relish to human life, it may 
seem as if you, my friends, have but little 
reason to meditate on the goodness of God. 
His justice, indeed, has appeared to overtake 
you, and, in exhorting you to repentance, you 



might think it proper for me to dwell on the 
further infliction of that justice, if you con- 
tinue impenitent. But where have been the 
proofs of his goodness, and what motives can 
be drawn from thence for penitential sorrow? 

Listen to me, my hearers, with serious 
attention, and I will endeavour, in plain and 
simple language, to shew you that God has 
indeed been good to you, and that the recol- 
lection of this goodness ought to lead you to 
repentance. 

In common with those of your fellow crea- 
tures whose situation is apparently more fa- 
vourable than yours, you have received the 
gift of life. Life is in itself a blessing, and 
if rightly improved, is a source of much hap- 
piness. If you have not improved the bless- 
ing as you ought, if you have rendered life a 
source of unhappiness and misery, it is your 
own fault, and not the fault of God. It was 
good in him to bestow life, and in bestowing 
it, it was his design to confer happiness. 

In common with others of your fellow crea- 
tures, you have received the gift of reason. 
This raised you above the brutes of the field, 



rendered you capable of acquiring knowledge 
and virtue, of holding intercourse with your 
fellow creatures, and of enjoying felicity both 
here and hereafter. If you have abused and 
perverted this gift, it is your own fault, and 
not the fault of God. It was good in him to 
bestow reason, and hi bestowing it, it was his 
design to promote your happiness. 

In common with others, you have received 
the gift of conscience, to deter you from sin, 
or to admonish you of guilt. If this faithful 
monitor has been disregarded, and its re- 
proaches stifled, it is your own fault, and not 
the fault of God. It was good in him to be- 
stow this gift, and it was his design that it 
should prompt you to virtue and happiness. 

In common with others of your fellow crea^ 
tures, you have been possessed of parents and 
friends. Your parents watched over you, and, 
under God, provided a supply for your wants, 
when you were unable to take care of your- 
selves ; and many other of the friends whom 
God had given, have probably added to your 
comfort and enjoyment. Some of you have 
undoubtedly had parents and friends, who 



6 

were anxious to bring you up in the fear of 
God, and thus to make you a blessing to 
yourselves and to society. If you have not 
been sensible of the value of these blessings, 
or heeded the advice or admonition you may 
have received, it is your own fault, and not 
the fault of God. It was good in him to be- 
stow these blessings, and it was his design 
that they should promote your benefit and 
increase your happiness. 

In common with some of your fellow crea- 
tures, you have been offered the gift of 
religion, of that religion which points out to 
you the path of duty and happiness here, 
and which promises you, if you accept of it, 
through the merits and mediation of Christ, 
the possession of perfect and everlasting 
enjoyment hereafter. If you have despised 
and rejected this gift, if you have turned a 
deaf ear to the voice of those who urged you 
to accept of the terms of salvation, it is your 
own fault, and not the fault of God. He 
was good, infinitely good, in offering you so 
great a blessing ; and it was his design, that 
you should accept of it and be happy. 



In thus enumerating the instances of God's 
goodness towards you, my friends, I have 
necessarily confined myself to a general view 
of it. The particular circumstances of your 
past lives are best known to yourselves. 
You can, each of you, call up to mind nu- 
merous and essential benefits with which you 
have been favoured. The enjoyment of 
health, relief in seasons of distress, escape in 
times of danger, the favourable opportunities 
you may have possessed, however misim- 
proved, for gaining knowledge and piety, 
or for success in the world by honest indus- 
try. All these things, and many more of 
which each of you must be conscious, are 
proofs, strong and affecting proofs, of the 
the goodness of God. 

And now let me ask you, let each one ask 
himself, what return he has made to God for 
so much goodness ? Alas, my friends ! the 
situation in which you are now placed, is a 
most sad and impressive reply. But, even 
here, even in your present circumstances, 
confined within the walls of this prison, you 
have reason to acknowledge and adore the 



8 

goodness of God. Why were you not ar- 
rested in your career of iniquity by the hand 
of death, and hurried, with all your sins un- 
repented of, into the presence of an offended 
God ? It was, because that God was good 
to you ; it was, because he would give you a 
longer space for repentance, not willing that 
you should perish, but that you should turn 
unto him and live. 

Reflect, for a moment, how dreadful, how 
unspeakably dreadful would have been your 
condition, if, at the instant you were perpe- 
trating the crime for which you were con- 
demned to this place, you had been called, 
not to an earthly tribunal, but to the tribunal 
of the Almighty ; of that Being who is of 
purer eyes than to behold evil, and who 
cannot look upon iniquity, but with the utmost 
abhorrence ; of that Being, who is not only 
able to destroy the body, but can destroy 
both body and soul in hell. 

Why, I may further ask, are you placed 
in a situation comparatively so comfortable, 
where you have the means of religious in- 
struction and improvement, and where those 



9 

who superintend the institution, are so anx- 
ious to lessen the evils of your lot, instead of 
being secluded in a dark and gloomy cell, or 
confined to a place where you would be des- 
titute of the advantages you here enjoy ? It 
is, because God is good to you. 

Let me ask you again, what return have 
you made for all this goodness ? 

God gave you life, that you might glorify 
him, and promote your own welfare, and that 
of others. How unmindful have you been 
of the important ends for which life was be- 
stowed upon you ! Instead of devoting it to 
the service of God, have you not devoted it 
to the service of the enemy of God and man ? 
Instead of promoting your own welfare, and 
that of others, have you not been pursuing a 
course destructive of your own welfare, and 
highly injurious to the welfare of your neigh- 
bour ? Instead of a blessing, have you not 
been a pest to society ? 

God gave you reason, that you might know 
and love and adore him, that you might fulfil 
yourduty in this world, and make preparation 
for a better world. How much have you 



10 

abused and perverted this precious gift ! It 
raised you above the level of the brute crea- 
tion ; have not many of you, by drowning it 
in intemperance and debauchery, often sunk 
yourselves far below their level ? Instead of 
seeking to acquire a knowledge of God, have 
you not shewn by your conduct that you de- 
sired not the knowledge of his ways ? Instead 
of glorifying God with the speech which he 
had given you, have you not often blasphemed 
his holy name and imprecated his vengeance 
upon yourselves and others ? Instead of ful- 
filling your duty in the world, and devoting 
your powers and faculties to an useful purpose, 
have you not neglected your duty, and em- 
ployed your powers and faculties in devising 
and executing plans of mischief and wicked- 
ness ? Instead of preparing for heaven, have 
you not been pursuing the broad way that 
leadeth to destruction ? 

God gave you conscience to deter you 
from sin, or to excite you to repentance for 
it. Instead of heeding this faithful monitor, 
have you not stifled its reproaches, and some 
of you even seared it " as with a hot iron ?" 



11 

God gave you parents to take care of you 
when you were unable to take care of your- 
selves, and friends to promote your comfort 
and happiness in life. How dreadfully have 
you requited those parents for their care of 
you, and how poorly have you fulfilled the 
claims of friendship ! 

Perhaps some of you have even abused the 
parents who gave you birth, have reviled 
them, have lifted up your unhallowed hands 
against them, or by your misconduct have 
brought down their heads in sorrow to the 
grave. This may have been the case with 
some of you whose parents not only gave you 
birth, and took care of your infancy and 
childhood, but endeavoured to teach you 
your duty to your God and your neighbour, 
that you might be respectable, useful and 
happy ; who wept and prayed and laboured 
for you. Oh, unfeeling, ungrateful men ! 
Where was the vengeance of the Almighty 
that it did not forever silence the tongue that 
was uttering reproachful words of a father or 
a mother, that it did not wither the hand that 
was raised to smite a parent, that it did not at 



12 

once arrest the guilty wretch in his mad ca- 
reer, and consign him to endless woe ? How 
long-suffering, how compassionate is God ! 

Perhaps some of you have wronged the 
friends who trusted to your friendship and 
confided in your honour ; or have corrupted 
and ruined them. 

God offered you the gift of religion. He 
provided a way of salvation for you by Jesus 
Christ. He sent his son into the world to 
die that you might live •, the just for the un- 
just that he might bring sinners to God. 
Have you not despised the gift ? Have you 
not been unmindful of the sufferings and 
death of Christ on your behalf? Have you 
not turned a deaf ear to the invitations and 
warnings and threat'nings of God's word? 
Have you not neglected the means and op- 
portunities of religious instruction ? Have you 
not followed the devices and desires of your 
own evil hearts, and been careless about the 
one thing needful, even the salvation of your 
immortal souls ? 

God has spared your lives, and given you 
a space for repentance in this place. How 



1 



13 

well you have requited this great and unmer- 
ited goodness, I cannot tell. But in the re- 
view of the goodness of God, and of your 
own ingratitude, disobedience and guilt, let 
me exhort you, let me earnestly exhort you, 
to deep and sincere repentance. I would 
fain hope that there are many of you who can 
be touched with a sense of the goodness of 
God, and with sorrow for having sinned 
against so much light, and so much love. 
This is the foundation on which repentance 
should be built. This is the repentance that 
will be most acceptable to God. 

But if any of you are so hardened as to be 
unmoved by the recollection of the goodness 
of God, perhaps you may be affected by the 
view of his justice, which will assuredly be 
exercised upon you to the utmost, if you do 
not repent. An awful judgment day is at 
hand ; it may come upon you unawares, and 
dreadful indeed will it be, if it find you un- 
prepared for its arrival. Your portion will 
be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth* 

Be persuaded then, be excited to repent- 
ance and prayer, to seek earnestly for the 



14 

forgiveness of your sins, for an interest in 
your Saviour, for peace with God. Let the 
sincerity of your repentance be manifested 
by a meek and quiet spirit, by respectful 
obedience to those who have the rule over 
you, by an obliging and affectionate conduct 
towards each other, and by a diligent per- 
formance of the work assigned you. 

Many of you are here but for a limited 
period, and some of you are perhaps soon to 
return again to that world, which was the 
scene of your temptations and your guilt. 
Let me beseech you to endeavour to carry 
with you such principles and habits, as will 
enable you to redeem the time you have lost, 
and to compensate to society the injury you 
have done it. Perhaps you have parents still 
living, prepare to be a comfort to them in 
their old age, to sustain their feeble hands, 
to support their faltering footsteps, and to 
smooth their passage to the grave. Perhaps 
you have a wife, tender and affectionate, 
prepare to make her happy by a life of sobri- 
ety and virtue. Perhaps you have children, 
whom by your example, if not by your pre- 



15 

cepts, you may have been training up to vice 
and misery. Prepare to be yet a blessing to 
them, and to teach them by your future con- 
duct, that having tasted the fruits of sin, you 
have found them indeed bitter. Thus you 
will be respectable and happy. You will 
regain the affection and esteem you may have 
forfeited, and retrieve the character you have 
lost. 

Let those of you who are destined to fin- 
ish their earthly course within these walls, 
endeavour to acquiesce in their lot, as the 
appointment of a wise and righteous Provi- 
dence. Be thankful, my friends, that you 
have so many comforts, and especially, that 
you have the means of spiritual improvement. 
Use these means with diligence, I entreat you. 
Be earnest in your prayers, and sincere in 
your repentance, and you may then hope, 
through divine mercy, when the term of your 
probation is ended, to exchange a state of 
bondage and imprisonment, for the glorious 
liberty of the sons of God. 

The most painful and arduous task I have 
yet to fulfil, in addressing you, my unhappy 



16 

brethren, who by the sentence of the law are 
condemned to die.* 

How awful, how exceedingly awful is the 
situation in which you are placed. But a 
few short days will pass away, before you, 
who are now in health and in the vigour of 
life, will suffer an ignominious death, and 
appear at the judgment seat of God. How 
shall I address you ? What words shall 
I use to impress you with a true sense of 
your condition, and of the importance of 
devoting the few remaining days of your life 
to diligent, to unwearied preparation for 
eternity ? 

You have heard me discourse of the good- 
ness of God, and you have a witness in 
yourselves, that he has been good to you ; 
that you are allowed this space for repentance, 
and that the officer,! to whose charge you 



* Samuel Tulley an American, and John Dalton an English- 
man, then under sentence of death for piracy. They were 
convicted at the Circuit Court in Boston, October twenty- 
first. 

f The Marshal of the Massachusetts District, who has been 
unwearied in his humane attentions to these miserable men, and 
anxious that they should have, to the utmost, the benefit ©f 
religious instruction. 



1? 

have bef committed, is so attentive to your 
spiritu? as we ^ as temporal welfare, is a 
stronf ^ ut unmerited, proof of divine good- 
ness -D° not > ^ conjure you, do not cast 
aw / from you the privileges you now enjoy ! 
iiovv great, how aggravated have been your 
fences, against the clearest light ; against 
the dictates of your reason ; against the ad- 
monitions of your consciences ; against the 
warnings of your parents ; against the laws 
of society of which you could not be ignorant; 
against the suggestions of the Spirit, and the 
invitations and threat'nings of the word of 
God ; against love unparalled, mercy un- 
bounded ; 

Let the goodness of God lead you to re- 
pentance. You have a little space left to you ; 
fill it it up with duty. Does any thing bur- 
den your consciences? Relieve yourselves 
from the burden. Can you repair any in- 
jury you have done to a fellow- creature by 
confession and acknowledgment ? Do it. 
You are bound by ail your hopes of happiness 
hereafter to do it. Have you kept back any 
thing, that you have been exhorted to reveal ? 



18 

Do so no longer ; you cannot de,j ve God, 
and in his presence you will so^ appear. 
My friends, this is the last time tl> \ s hall 
address you in this public manner. Soon, 
very soon, the curtain of eternity wil.hide 
you from my view; and the execution o^h e 
awful sentence of the law will deprive yc 1? 
forever, of the means of instruction, will plac 
you beyond the reach of any warning voice. 
I feel the solemn, the unspeakable importance 
of my situation. Oh, that I could be instru. 
mental in exciting or encouraging^repentance ! 
Oh, that I could be instrumental in bringing 
you to your Saviour and your God ! Turn 
ye to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope ! 
The blood of Christ cleanse th from all sin. 
Pray, earnestly pray, that you may be cleans- 
ed in that blood, and that you may secure an 
inheritance above, before it is forever too 
late. Let me, again and again, entreat you, 
by the goodness of God, by the tender mercies 
of your Saviour, by the convictions of your 
own consciences, and by the prospect of a 
judgment to come, to seize this moment, 
which is given you for repentance. 



19 •""^■p 

Farewell — a long farewell. — Go to your 
cells again, and in that solemn retirement, 
where God only is present with you, medi^ 
tate on what has now been said. 

May God, of his infinite mercy, carry it 
home to your hearts, and to the hearts of each 
one of us. And at last, when our course of 
duty and of discipline on earth is ended, may 
we all meet again in heaven, to celebrate, 
forever, the goodness of God, and the won- 



ders of redeeming Tbve ! — Amen 



ness of G 
j love ! — - 



» 







X<ot J 



V'^5\o^ V--"' 4 ^ V-^^\0^ *o 




j- "-*, *. 








<\ 































«,♦♦ .\£Sk\ "W* .vaSto. ^** .\*afe\ % 












/% °l?# ** v % : -iik> /\. -.w 




VA 




